


Do Emotional Support Arachnids Actually Exist?

by kowaidesuka



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Genarog is a bearded dragon, M/M, Meet-Ugly, Pre-Relationship, because I am too soft, opposite of meet-cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 11:59:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18571024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kowaidesuka/pseuds/kowaidesuka
Summary: In which Artur is an intruder, Cormag owns a pet lizard, and Lute is the best prankster/wingman.





	Do Emotional Support Arachnids Actually Exist?

**Author's Note:**

> So... this cursed fic came from my newfound love for Cormag and Artur's support convos, a meet-cute gone wrong fic I saw about breaking and entering, and the image of Lute going, "but sir, this is my emotional support arachnid" while Artur screams in the background.

Cormag flopped onto his mattress, stomach first and groaning. The lab report that had been slowly killing him this past week was finally finished and emailed to his professor. He stretched his arm out to take his phone from the night stand, unlocking it and idly scrolling through his notifications. After liking Natasha’s new photo of her adorable cat, responding to his roommate’s request to leave the door unlocked with a simple ‘k’, and outright ignoring Valter’s string of creepy emojis, the blond senior managed to pass out within a couple of minutes.

Hours later, he stirred to the sound of the door creaking open. _Man, we gotta get the RA down here to fix the hinges again,_ he thought groggily. And was it just him, or were Seth’s footsteps a little lighter than usual?

It wasn’t until he saw he cracked his eye open and saw the distinctly slimmer figure than his roommate leaning over his pet’s tank that he put the pieces together. 

He abruptly sat up in his bed and yelled out, “Oi, what the hell are you doing here?!”, startling the figure who yelped out in shock. Flailing his hand blindly on his dresser, he switched on the lamp next to his bedside, revealing the intruder to be a frightened man, with ginger curls and a turquoise scarf wrapped around his shoulders. His eyes widened at the sight of Cormag.

“What?” the man questioned anxiously. “Is this not Room 305?”

“Um, it _is_ ,” Cormag replied, narrowing his eyes. “But who the hell are you?”

“W-well, who are _you_?” he asked back. “And what are you doing in Lu-” he paused as he gazed down at the inhabitant of the tank, and jumped back. “What? There’s meant to be a-” He sighed. “Okay. I get it now. I think I owe you an apology, er…”

“The name’s Cormag,” he grunted, kicking off the covers and approaching him. “And damn right you do. Who do you think you are, just barging into someone’s dorm room like that?”

The man laughed nervously, the sound surprisingly pleasant to Cormag’s ears. “In my defence, your door was unlocked. But yes, I am really, really sorry about this.” He fiddled with his scarf. “I don’t normally do stuff like this either, it’s just, my friend wanted something from her room. I thought this was her room because she just moved buildings and she just… told me the wrong room as a prank.” He sighed again, shaking his head.

“That’s one hell of a prank,” he retorted, brushing past him to check on his bearded dragon. “And what does that have to do with you trying to steal my Genarog?”

“Your… what?” he blinked, looking down at the disgruntled reptile. “Oh! Well. I kind of had my doubts about this being my friend’s room at first, but then I saw the tank and thought it looked like hers. She has her own pet too. Isn’t it lucky how Magvel U lets us keep pets? Oh, I’m Artur, by the way,” he added hastily, sticking out a hand. He stared at it for a moment, then reached out to grip it. “Cormag,” he responded reflexively.

Artur laughed again. Something about the sight and sound of it made his chest flutter. “You told me that already.”

“Oh… right.” He cleared his throat. “You a freshman or something? Don’t think I’ve seen you around in my classes.”

“Actually, yes,” he said. “I guess it’s kind of obvious, I look and sound very… freshman. I’m still not quite used to college life. You know, this one morning, a girl walked up to me and started touching my face, asking me where I got my skin care products from. I’m pretty sure she was sleep-deprived, but still… weird experience.”

“Yeah. You got a weird bunch of people here.”

“Guess my friend would fit right in,” Artur replied, smiling fondly. 

“Your prankster friend?”

“Yes. Her name is Lute. She tried to drag me out drinking tonight but I wanted no part of it. Then she came knocking on my door, still drunk, and begged me to get her pet tarantula for her.”

“A tarantula? That’s pretty unconventional.”

“It absolutely terrifies me.” He shuddered, orange curls bouncing a little. “But Lute’s always pushing me to face my fears, among other… things.” His cheeks turned pink at that admission. “And I felt like doing something brave for once. It didn’t turn out bad, I don’t think. I went into the wrong room, but at least I didn’t have to touch it yet, so, yay.” He raised one fist in the air weakly.

Cormag hmm’ed. “And what’s your policy on bearded dragons?” he asked.

The shorter man smiled. “They’re definitely not as scary as spiders.”

“I’ll have you know that Genarog is one dangerous little demon spawn,” he chuckled. “Here. Do you wanna hold him?” At Artur’s nodding, he reached out and took his wrist, lowering his hand into the open tank with as much gentleness as he could muster. 

“Hold your hand palm up,” Cormag instructed quietly, “fingers together, you don’t want him to bite them.” Artur dutifully lowered his palm down toward Genarog, below eye level. The dragon inspected his hand for a moment, then to the guys’ surprise, started to lick it.

“Damn, he must really like you,” Cormag said. “I’m a little jealous. It took me weeks for him to take to me.” Genarog continued to lick and nudge at Artur’s hand, causing the freshman to giggle in response. Tentatively, he petted the lizard under his chin, causing the pet to close his eyes slowly. Cormag guided the man on how to pick up the bearded dragon properly and handle him. Aside from some initial wriggling, Genarog was content to just lay in Artur’s hands, as if basking under the warmth of his beaming smile. 

“He’s… kind of cute, actually,” Artur said quietly.

“Uh-huh. Don’t let your guard down though. He can be real deadly,” Cormag replied, with a wink.

The two stood in silence in their impromptu 2am lizard petting session, when the rattling and creaking of the door opening startled them. The blond took his lizard back as Seth walked in. “Thanks for keeping it unlocked, Corm,” his roommate said, nodding his head at Artur in acknowledgement. “I forgot my keys this morning and had a feeling my group project would run late. I didn’t expect you to still be up though. And with company too.”

“I was just leaving,” Artur said hastily, “I’m sorry to bother you both. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go get my friend her emotional support arachnid!”

Seth raised an eyebrow. “Her what now?”

“Hey, Artur, wait up!” The younger man paused at the doorway, looking at Cormag expectantly.

The senior walked up to him, rubbing the back of his head. “Um… do you want to come back and hang out sometime? Maybe when you don’t have a drunk friend to attend to?”

Artur’s smile widened. “Really?”

“It’s just that, Genarog took to you very quickly, and he’d give me hell if he’d never see you again.”

“It’d be my pleasure,” he replied happily. “Good night. Or morning, I guess.”

“Good night-slash-morning to you too.”

He closed the door, turning back to his staring roommate. “Uh…”

Seth sighed. “I’m too tired to comprehend this right now. It’s been a long day. You know, one guy in our group completely dropped the course without telling us until now, two days before the due date?”

Cormag winced in sympathy. “Shit, man.”

\---

Artur walked down the dorm hall, feeling oddly giddy, when suddenly a hand grabbed at his shoulder and a voice went, “Hey. Where’s my emotional support arachnid?”

He tried not to scream too loudly as he turned around to face Lute, still inebriated by the way she swayed a little on the spot. “Lute! You… were you listening in on us?” he asked, trying to muster up some indignation.

“Only the last few sentences, really,” she said flatly. “I’ve heard from many people that matters of the heart should be private, so I left you alone for the most part.”

He blushed. “You did this on purpose! I knew I shouldn’t have told you about that guy! Wait, how did you know who he was? And how did you find out where he lived?”

“Through watching, mostly. I’ve expanded my people watching talents. Pretty neat, huh?”

“It’s… concerning, is what it is.” Artur clutched at his scarf, trying to calm himself down. “I… thank you, though. I can’t really say the end justified the means but… I got to talk to him at least.”

And in the early morning, before drifting off into belated sleep, both men reminisced on their encounter with grins on their faces.


End file.
